Destiny in the Rain
by Tenma-Chakun
Summary: A series of events cause Ichigo’s dormant shinigami power to manifest much earlier than intended. Will he be able to protect the ones he loves and maybe prevent the death of his mother? Formerly 'Retribution'
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, well, hello everyone. I would like to take the time to introduce myself to you all. No, I am not "Tenma-Chakun" (formerly know as The Angel Kid), I am a completely different author that goes goes by a completely different name. However, the original author of this story has been having an extremely difficult time keeping up with this story and has asked for my assistance. While I won't guarantee that I will update this story any faster than she was, I too have a few stories that I am actively writing, I will help her with this story in the future. That being said, let me address the few attentive readers out there that noticed this story is now one chapter shorted than it was previously; well, it really isn't shorter in length, during my beta-reading I felt it would be better to combine the first and second chapters. Other than that, I don't think it is much different than it was before. I think that is all I have to say at the moment, so, without further ado, both Tenma and myself would like to present to you. . .**

* * *

**Chapter One**

There was something about today that had Masaki Kurosaki on edge. She couldn't quite figure it out, but something in the air felt wrong. '_Like I'm being watched. . .'_ she shook her head and pushed the thought out of her mind as she continued on her way towards her son's karate dojo. Though she hated to admit it, he wasn't very good at karate, but he had insisted that he take the classes. Though that's not to say that he was terrible. '_No, by no means is he terrible, it's just not a talent of his.' _She chided herself. She looked towards the murky grey sky. '_It's going to rain today.'_ She noted, thankful that she decided to bring her son's raincoat and an umbrella for herself.

A shiver ran down her spine and she froze. She cautiously looked around. Now she was positive that there was defiantly someone or _something_ out there watching her. . .stalking her. Masaki knew of the _Other Worldly Creatures_ that lurks about, though she never actually saw one, she knew they existed. The odd footprints and random explosions that most people wrote off as pointless acts of terrorism, she knew it was _them._ And when her son told her of a girl he had met one night that claimed to be _dead, _she believed him. Though Isshin would always just chalk it up to an over active imagination, but to be honest, she had suspected that there was something that he was not telling her. . . '_Its probably nothing, although. . .no, its nothing, I'm sure.' _Picking up her pace she arrived at the dojo a short while later. Walking through the door she was greeted with the site of her son crying his poor little heart out. '_He lost again…'_ she smiled sadly

"Ichigo…" the way she sang his name worked as the perfect balm for the young Kurosaki. Looking up, his expression brightened instantly upon seeing his mother's face. '_From tears and heartache to smiles and giggles, I'll never understand you Ichigo!' _Masaki thought as she crouched down and opened her arms. Ichigo immediately ran to her and embraced his mother in a tight hug. "Did you win?" she asked even though she knew the answer.

Ichigo's eyes fell to the ground. "No. Not today…" he said in that small, frail voice that always made Masaki's heart heavy.

"But you tried you best. That's what counts the most, ne?" she said offering her best smile

"Hai!" he shouted, back to his happy self.

Masaki nodded firmly and stood. "Come on, lets get going." She said as she looked out the window and noticing that the rain had already started. Placing the rain coat on her son, she led him out of the dojo.

As she opened her umbrella she had that same feeling of being watched again. "Mom," The sound of Ichigo's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"Hmm?" She asked, smiling down at him.

"You should let me walk by the curb." He told her with a serious expression on his face.

"And why would I do that?" she asked as she looked around again. The feeling of dread loomed over her like an axe just waiting to fall.

"Just in case a car comes by and splashes a puddle, I can protect you." He said attempting to switch places with Masaki.

"I couldn't allow that. I'm your mother, I should be protecting you." She smiled to him again. She could see the disappointment in his eyes. "Tell you what. Every time you win in karate I'll let you protect me once, okay?"

"But I did win one time. I beat Tatsuki-chan just the other day!" He said with such a sense of determination that Masaki couldn't help but fell proud.

"Really? That's wonderful! But lets start from today okay."

Ichigo just smiled and nodded, but to be honest, he wasn't content. Ichigo has, for a while now, been able to see the dearly departed. At first he couldn't really tell them apart from actual living beings. But lately, at least in his opinion, he has been getting increasingly better at it. But today just felt . . . off. He had the strangest feeling that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. _'Like I'm being watched…'_ He tightening the grip he had on his mother's hand.

* * *

The auburn colored beast expertly traversed back and forth through dimensions. It had found its next prey. He had been watching this one for quite some time now, and he had to admit that for a human, this one smelled _delicious_. "**Hmm, I cant wait to taste her. . ."** its booming voice reverberated through out the empty desert-like environment. He knew that she was aware of his presence but that was what had made this so damn fun! The fact that she was powerless to stop him from achieving his goal made it all the more sweet. Shifting back to the human realm, he followed her, careful not to be seen. When he saw her stop and look over her shoulder he instinctively froze. Though he was sure that she couldn't see his physical form, he knew that there were certain people that had a sort of sixth sense about that sort of thing. He had devoured quite a few of them in his long existence. '_**And my, were they tasty!'**_ He was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw her begin to pick up her pace, and he followed her shortly afterwards.

When he saw her enter through the front door of some human establishment or another, he dipped into a shadow and waited, patiently. He had lived a long life, and through his many years he had learned the value of patience. One who waited for the opportune moment was guaranteed to achieve all of their goals. It had been the key to his existence; patience. Over time he had assembled quite a few 'followers' to do his biding; he was at the pinnacle of his afterlife. In his own eyes, he was a king. And now, this king was going to feast.

As soon as he saw her exit the building again, if he had a heart, it would have skipped a beat. The woman smelled good, but the boy that fell in step beside her. . .he smelled absolutely delicious. From his perch above his new prey, the beast licked his lips in anticipation. Although he certainly preferred women over anything else, but the scent that the boy was giving off made him shiver in delight. In all of his long existence he had never encountered a human that smelled so . . . so . . . so damn tasty! '_**Almost like a shinigami, but spicier! Ohh! I can't wait any longer!'**_ he thought to himself. He wasted no time in lunching his 'bait' into action. Placing it along the shore that his soon to be meals were walking by, it gave off the impression of a drowning girl.

Perfect.

* * *

After accepting his mother's proposal, Ichigo had come back to his normal joyous self. He always found it difficult to be upset in her presence. Not that he was aiming to be upset mind you, but when she was close by, he felt calm, tranquil, and overall, happy. He could honestly say that without her in his life he didn't know what he'd do. He stood there, watching her smiling at him as she wiped off the excess water and dirt from his face. Ichigo had found a stick that looked oddly like a sword and decided to play 'Lone Samurai' with it, that is before he tripped and landed on his face.

"You should be more careful sweetie, ok?" she lightly scolded, if it could even be considered a scolding.

"Ah, but I'm ok mom. Look, no scratches or nothing!" Ichigo proclaimed with more than a little pride.

He was about to comment further when he heard something that sounded an awful lot like crying. Turning, he saw a girl. She seemed to be having trouble staying afloat in the flooded river bank. Reacting purely on instinct he bolted over to her. He knew he had to help her if he could, and he intended on doing just that.

"Ichigo!!" He barely heard his mother calling out to him from behind. He was about half way there when, for reasons he could not explain, his body suddenly froze. "Ichigo!!" His mother shouted as she rushed to his side. "Ichigo what's wrong?" She asked as she noticed the far away look in her son's eyes. Ichigo shook his head back and forth trying to clear his mind. He was in a daze, completely unaware of everything around him.

"**Hmm? It didn't work? Well that's a first." **A demonic like voice rang out. Ichigo's eyes widened as he saw, no, more like felt the creature that could only exist in nightmares. "**Not that it matters anyway. You're still going to be a pleasant meal! **It said as it charged at them. Giant footprints began to appear one after another as it drew closer and closer. His mother seemed none the wiser.

"Ichigo, what's wrong? What do you see?!" she asked frantically as she saw the raw fear in her son's eyes. But before he could answer his mother was thrown into a wall.

"MOMMY!" Ichigo shouted with tears in his eyes.

"**I think I'll save the best for best!" **it growled as it walked past Ichigo and headed straight for Masaki's dazed form. "**I could go for an appetizer!" **It Said.

Masaki was confused as to why she felt a sudden pain rip across her back before she was launched about ten meters into a wall adjacent to the shore. What confused her even more was how she was floating above the ground, being held against the wall by her neck by some invisible force. "_**Mm! You smell so good! I bet you're tasty!"**_ Though Masaki couldn't see the caster of the voice she most defiantly felt the heavy blow that was delivered to the back of her head.

Ichigo had completely lost the ability to move; whether it was from fear or some other unexplained reason, he didn't know. But what he did know was that he had to at least try to help his mother in some way. Crushing what ever doubt he was feeling at the time, he swallowed hard and charged. He could almost see the creature now. It looked surprisingly a lot like some kind of giant gerbil, if his eyes saw correctly. But to be honest nothing really made much sense at the moment.

His approach did not go unnoticed by the beast. In fact it was anticipated. Reacting immediately to the smaller prey's presence it swiftly captured him in a web like dome of fur. "_**Why so hasty, hm, Ichigo?"**_ the beast said using the name that he heard the woman call him. Now he was completely transfixed on Ichigo and his intoxicating scent.

Ichigo shouted as pain erupted from various parts of his body. But what was worse was it felt like he was being pulled, no, torn from his body. He glanced behind him and noticed just that; his body dropped, lifelessly, with a thud. "**It's a ****courtesy**** to tell you're name before you kill someone, ne, Ichigo? Though I'm not really killing you. . .I'M GOING TO EAT YOU!!"** With that said it launched Ichigo into the air. As he came down he saw the monster in all his glory; its bright red fur and its bone colored mask froze his blood white. The monster leaned back and spread his jaws "**Call Me, Grand Fisher." **Was the last thing Ichigo heard before he fell into the hollows mouth.

* * *

Ichigo had the strangest sensation of falling. He opened his eyes and saw . . . nothing. '_What?' _All around him was black. '_Am I…dead?'_ he thought.

'_Yes' _a voice replied, simply.

Ichigo looked around trying to find the owner of the voice "Who's there?" His voice had a strange echo to it, as if two voices came out at once.

'_When a soul is separated from its body, the body becomes an empty husk, while the soul is left to wander. In other words whenever a soul leaves a body that person dies, though the process is reversible, as long as the body remains intact.' _The voice explained.

"W-what?! What are you talking about?!" Ichigo demanded.

'_You cannot see? No matter, perhaps it is not time yet…'_

"See what? Who are you, show yourself!"

'_- - - - - - - -, hmm. You cannot yet hear my name.'_

Suddenly the dark was replaced with blinding white light. "GAH!" Ichigo exclaimed when his vision cleared and he noticed he was soaring towards the side of a building. "Crap." Was all he could utter as his body was ablaze in pain. With a groan, he tried to lean upwards and almost jumped out of his skin when he realized who high up he was. Acting on instinct he grabbed for the nearest object to prevent him from falling, which happened to be a flagpole.

"Odd, is it time?" a voice called from above him.

Looking up Ichigo saw a man with glasses and a black flowing overcoat staring down at him from his position atop the flagpole. "Time…for what?" Ichigo asked. He was in silent awe at how cool the man looked.

"For me, for us."

"Us?" The cloaked man just nodded. "I don't get it. 'Time for us', what are you talking about?"

"I, am you."

Ichigo's eyes widened "But…you're an old man!" he said in disbelief.

The man shook his head. "I am but a part of you, a part of your soul."

"My soul? You're…a part of my soul?"

The old man nodded "Right now you are dead."

Ichigo swallowed hard "I'm really…dead?" The man nodded as rain began to pour down hard.

"But I can help. Together we can bring you back."

The rain lightened a little "R-Really?" Before the man could respond, the entire world began to shack violently. "Wh-What's going on?"

"You are merging."

"What?" Ichigo asked. Looking towards the 'top' of the building, he saw it begin to crumble into small boxes.

"When a hollow devours a soul, that soul becomes part of the hollow." The man explained.

"Hollow?"

"The thing that consumed you."

Just then, Ichigo remembered the monster that attacked him. The thing had swallowed him whole. "But, wait! What happened to my mom?!"

"Shes next." He said simply, as if it were obvious.

"Y-You said you could change me back? H-how?!" Ichigo knew that there would not be much he could do to stop the monster, but if he could just hold it off long enough for his mom to get away, then that was all that mattered. At that moment, hundreds upon thousands of boxes poured down from the building top, and Ichigo began to fall.

"The task is simple. You must unleash you hidden power."

"HOW?!" Ichigo shouted frantically as he began to fall faster.

"That's up to you. You've got maybe thirty seconds." The man told him as he watched him fall into darkness. The seconds stretched out like hours, days even, until a massive explosion of spirit energy pierced through the dark abyss. "I suppose he has done it." Then an ear-pinching shriek resonated through the air. "But this world has just got a little bit smaller."

* * *

"Ichigo, what's wrong? What do you see?!" Masaki asked frantically as she saw the raw fear in her son's eyes. However, before she could get an answer, she was thrown into a wall.

"MOMMY!" She heard her son cry out.

"**I think I'll save the best for best!" **a voice growle. "**I could go for an appetizer!" **It Said.

Masaki was confused as to why she felt a sudden pain rip across her back before she was launched about ten meters into a wall adjacent to the shore. What confused her even more was how she was floating above the ground, being held against the wall by her neck by some invisible force. "_**Mm! You smell so good! I bet you're tasty!"**_ Though Masaki couldn't see the caster of the voice she most defiantly felt the heavy blow that was delivered to the back of her head.

She had almost lost consciousness, and she was sure that she was bleeding. "Is this . . . one of _them_?" She asked no one in particular. She looked up, and what she saw shocked her in so many ways that she, for a moment, doubted her own sanity. A monster, unlike any she had ever seen before, towered ominously above her, not unlike a wild beast ready to devour its helpless prey, which was probably exactly what it was thinking anyway. "Oh my God . . ." was all she could bring herself to say. '_It is them! They are real, I knew it!' _she was snatched away from her thought as she heard her son cry out in bloody murder, as he ran to her. Masaki wanted to say something, she wanted, no she needed to stop him before he went and killed himself in some false sense of valor. But she couldn't find her voice. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't speak, couldn't move. All she could do was watch in silent horror.

The thing turned from her almost instantly, giving Ichigo his full attention. It swiftly captured him in a web like dome of what looked like fur. "_**Why so hasty, hm, Ichigo?"**_ the beast said using the name that he heard Masaki call him. Masaki sharply took in as much air as she could handle at one time, bringing her hand to her mouth as she saw the dome constrict until the point that Ichigo was shouting in agony. "**It's a courtesy to tell you're name before you kill someone, ne, Ichigo? Though I'm not really killing you…I'M GOING TO EAT YOU!!" **She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw it begin to somehow separate Ichigo from his body and then throw him into the air like a rag doll, before falling straight into the monsters mouth. "**Call Me, Grand Fisher."**

"Ichigo!!" Masaki shouted in horror as her only son was swallowed by the monster. "Oh my god!" she choked out as hot tears began to trail down her face. Never, in all of her life has she felt this helpless. She was completely immobilized with fear. It slowly turned its head to her.

"**Oh well. I guess you can be my dessert!"** it roared as its fur stretched out and began strangling her. Slowly the light began to fade from her eyes as the darkness of unconsciousness crept in. Then a massive sword ripped through the monsters stomach. The monster dropped Masak as it howled in pain. "**W-What is this?!"**

The sword kept pushing through until it reached the hilt. A small arm clutched it tightly. Masaki could only stare with wide eyes as her sons head emerged next. "I-Ichigo…" She breathed barely above a whisper.

Ichigo pushed and squirmed his way out of the great wound. With a howl the monster jumped away, leaving a large trail of blood as it did. Ichigo grinned sadistically as he began to follow it.

"Ichigo!!" Masaki called.

Ichigo froze "**Ichigo? whozzat?" **he said as he turned around and revealed his partially developed hollow mask. Masaki opened her mouth to speak, but before she could utter a word, Ichigo's tiny hand closed around her windpipe. He laughed insanely as he watched her fall into unconsciousness.

'_Rip off the mask.'_ The old man's voice rang out in his head.

"**What?!" **he shouted as his hand released Masaki and gripped the mask. He dropped the sword and grabbed his wrist. "**Let go damn it!!"**

"G-GET OUT-T!"

"**Damn you! Aren't** **you dead yet?!"**

"G**O** A**W**A**Y**!!" They both screamed as the mask was torn off. It shattered as it hit the ground. "M-mommy . . . I . . ." was the last thing he uttered before he fainted.

At that moment a dark figure revealed himself. "Ah, so that's how it works? Ichigo was it? I'll be watchin ya closely." He looked at the gory scene in front of him. "I'll clean up the mess. Don't disappoint me, Ichigo-kun."

* * *

**Retribution © Tenma-Chakun  
Written and Created by Tenma-Chakun & Archimedes III  
Characters based on the characters from Bleach  
Excerpts from The Bleach Manga © Viz media  
Based on the Manga Bleach  
Bleach © Viz Media and Jump Comics  
**


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

It was nearing the end of class and for Ichigo, the end of his school day. The lecture was flowing through his mind without leaving a single trace of meaning behind. He was trying his hardest to stay awake while simultaneously attempting to at least absorb the barest minimum of knowledge. But with the week that he had had even the most trained and hardened soldiers would be exhausted had they been through half of what he has. So it was only expected of a nine year old to have trouble paying even the slightest bit of attention when the top of his desk looked quite simply, so inviting. But no, he wouldn't fall to that temptation. He would endure this silent torture that seemed to exist only to him, and as expected a silent snicker was almost audible from the deepest recesses of his mind. But what? It didn't make even a little sense. Was he insane? What was this irresistible instinct screaming bloody murder for him to sleep? Like a punch to the back of his brain. But he couldn't go to sleep, that much was certain, because if he did he would end up there, in that ridiculous 'sideways world' with that, that thing. It was like staring into some color inverted mirror.

"_**Don't look so surprised to see me, Ichigo."**_ The thing from his nightmares said, with that same sadistic grin planted on its face. And just like that Ichigo realized that all his efforts had been in vain. He had failed the one endeavor that he had tried so hard to preserve. He was now asleep. He hadn't noticed until now that he was no longer sitting at his desk in social studies class, but atop, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, the side of one of the many sideways buildings that he dreaded so much. "_**You know King; I am really disappointed in you. I mean, when I first came here I could have sworn you were at least somewhat powerful. I think for a split second I might have even feared you."**_

To say that Ichigo had an enormous amount of fear for this being would definitely be an understatement. But his fear, if only slightly, was temporarily overridden with his growing curiosity. "_Just who are you, and why do you call me 'King'?" _He asked though he didn't really expect to receive an answer, and was only mildly surprised to have gotten one.

"_**Who am I? Don't ask stupid questions. I am me. And why wouldn't I call a king, King? This is, after all your world. " **_It stared off into the horizon stuffing it's arms in the opposite's sleeve, and for the first time Ichigo noticed the strange attire of the negative version of himself and with that thought he looked down at his own clothes only to notice that it was practically the same thing 'it' was wearing, only his was black and white versus the things white and black. The clothes reminded him somewhat of what a samurai might have worn. Suddenly something it had said clicked in Ichigo's mind. "_Wait, did you say that this is _my _world?" _

The thing only donned an annoyed face. Several seconds went by before it decided to answer. "_**That's what I said right? A word of advice, King, don't ever piss me off."**_ Its face changed from annoyed to one of satisfaction when it saw Ichigo gulp and take a tentative step back. "_**Ha, you really are pathetic, you know that, Ichigo?"**_

What ever resolve Ichigo had built up was immediately destroyed, fear concurring his curiosity once again. "_W-what happened to 'King'?"_

It glared at Ichigo clearly, once again, annoyed by this line of questioning. "_**I refuse to call anything weaker that me my 'King'."**_ It began to advance forward. Ichigo froze completely immobilized by fear. He silently cursed his own weakness as his knees shook, preparing to give out from beneath him. Finally his self preservation instincts kicked into gear rushing an overly large amount of adrenalin through his muscles. He spun around not bothering to look back at the thing that he knew to be chasing him, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway because the thing was right in front him.

Recoiling after the collision, Ichigo stumbled to his feet. "_H-how did you . . ."_

"_**Don't bother askin'. It doesn't really matter now, does it?" **_It grabbed Ichigo's collar and pulled him close enough for him to feel its breath. Ichigo, fearing for his life he started to stammer out apologies "_I'm seriously sorry! I-I didn't mean to piss you off, I swear! Can't we just be friends?_" The thing cackled slightly "_**Friends? Why would I want to be friends with a weak pathetic fool like you?!" **_it flung Ichigo across almost the entire span of six buildings just barely landing on the last one.

He once again stumbled to his feet, now slightly battered and a little bruised. "_Please wait!" _whether the thing didn't hear him or just chose to ignored him he wasn't sure, but in the blink of an eye the thing was right in front of him. "_Please don't kill me! I don't want to die. I don't want to die!"_

"_**Don't kill you? WHY THE HELL NOT?! WHY SHOULDN'T I WANT TO GET RID OF THE ONLY THING HOLDING ME BACK FROM ACHIEVING MY GOALS?! YOU'RE DEAD ALREADY; YOUR BRAIN JUST HASN'T FIGURED IT OUT YET!!"**_

"_Then I'll help you! I swear I'll help you!" _Ichigo was just drawing at straws now. Doing every thing he could to prevent the thing from killing him right then and there. "_**What can a weak pathetic piece of shit like you possibly do for me?"**_

"_I-I'm not weak! I-" _the thing promptly cut him off "_**THEN PROVE IT!! Prove that you are worthy to wield the old man, and more importantly, prove that you are worthy to be king!! You don't have much time left Ichigo. One week, that's all the time I'll give. If you can not prove your worth by that time I will crush you into nothing, and then I will be king. **_**That** _**is **_**my** _**goal. Do you still want to 'help' me?"**_

And with that the world seemed to shrink farther and farther away. "_B-but how am I supposed to prove myself?" _Ichigo was almost in tears at this point, but the thing only laughed that insane twisted laugh of his before the world was completely encased in darkness.

Ichigo sat bolt upright at the sound of the bell signaling that the class had ended. He quickly gathered his belongings and made a bee line for the school exit. '_It was only a dream. It was only a dream.' _But that same sadistic laughter that tickled at the back of his mind was proof that he was clearly mistaken. There was no dream. He stifled a sob as he continued running, not stopping even once until he reached the clinic that he so affectionately called home.

Dropping his bag at the door, he sprinted up to his room. He jumped up on his bed where he then let out all of his pent up emotions as he buried his face beneath his pillow. '_It couldn't have been real, could it? It was just a stupid dream, that's all.' _

'_**Don't delude yourself, King. Get strong, and fast, or else I will definitely kill you.' **_Ichigo sobbed harder as the voice echoed still through his now silent mind.

Attracted by the sound of his son, Isshin diverted from his path to the upstairs bathroom and headed for Ichigo's room. He cracked the door open only slightly and craned his neck inside. Having little experience at being a good father, Isshin was pretty much at a loss for words. He knew that if he were to ever encounter one of his children in a distraught mood such as his son was currently in, he was to act immediately as was his parental duty. However Isshin wasn't by far a model father, in fact he had very little experience with handling any children let alone his own. But at least, if only in his mind, he knew that he was a better father than Ishida Ryuuken. With that thought and a new solidified resolve, Isshin knocked lightly on the door alerting the lone occupant of his presence.

Looking up from his prone position, Ichigo tried his hardest to clear his face of any remaining tears. As he saw his father warily approach him, he sat up fully on his bed putting on a phony smile for the elder Kurosaki. "Uh, hey dad, what's up?" Ichigo tried to play it as cool as he knew how. Not that he was ashamed to be caught crying in front of his father, but more so he just didn't want him to have to worry about him anymore than he already was. Even a week after the mugging his father had begun to worry about every little problem in his and his mother's life. But this wasn't a 'little' problem and he knew it. In fact now that he thought about it this 'major' problem of his started about the day after the attack. '_So maybe it is all in my head?' _he thought with almost a little relief, that is until, '_**Don't bet on it, Ichigo . . .'**_

Isshin was definitely not a fool. Despite how he may present himself, Isshin was actually very perceptive about most things. He knew about the hollow attack a week ago, but judging from the false memories that both he and his mother were producing, he thought it was fairly safe to deduce that a shinigami had found them before adequate harm could be dealt. But ever since that day Isshin had noticed subtle changes in both his son and his wife. Masaki would act rather strangely whenever Ichigo was around, almost as if she were afraid. Though she would never display these feeling openly she would use that false smile that she usually reserved only for Isshin when ever she was upset with him. But he wouldn't ask her about it, after all if she wanted him to know then she would most definitely have told him. And then there was Ichigo. The boy seemed to never go to sleep and if he did it would only be for a few moments. But what was worse was the way his reiatsu seemed to rapidly shift from enormous to almost nonexistent. Putting his current thoughts aside he decided he would get to the bottom of this. He may have been opposed to prying into his wife's affairs but he harbored no such feelings for his son, after all parents were supposed to be nosy, right? "The ceiling, so what's up with you?"

"Huh, me, n-nothing, nope I am A-okay!" he gave his father a thumbs up gesture. He was hoping that he was convincing his father because he was doing a piss poor job of convincing himself. Ichigo was never comfortable with lying to people especially his own family. But for the sake of keeping his father free of worry, what was a little white lie here and there. But if the condescending look that Isshin was displaying was any indication to go by then it was fairly safe to say that the proverbial jig was up. With a sigh Ichigo relented. "Well, it's nothing serious. Some times at night a have weird dreams is all." It wasn't a lie; he did have weird dreams at night. So what if he failed to mention that he had actually been having these weird dreams, or whatever they were, all the time.

"Ok, well what happened in those dreams." The way Isshin had figured it, what ever was bothering Ichigo was most likely what was bothering Masaki as well. What had happened during that attack, and how much of it did they remember?

Ichigo began to chew on his bottom lip nervously, he could trust to tell his father, right? He was a doctor after all. Ichigo took a deep breath and cast his eyes downward before starting the tale. "Well you see, in my dreams there is this, uh, guy. He looks exactly like me only his color is all wrong, like every thing about him is in the negative. He's always saying stuff like how I don't deserve to be king and how he is so much better than me. . . **and how I am going to kill him and all of you if he doesn't step up."**

"I-Ichigo?" Isshin asked taking a step forward in apprehension. He didn't really know what to make of his son's sudden change in behavior but he knew it couldn't be too good.

"**It's so easy, taking control. Why should he be king when I am so much more qualified?" **

Isshin didn't answer; he just slowly kept advancing on his son. Something was definitely wrong. His reiatsu had seemed to make up its mind as it settled on being enormous. He had never felt anyone with such a large spirit pressure this early in their life before. It was by no means enough to stifle his spirit pressure, but it was massive nonetheless. "Ichigo, are you . . . are you ok?"

Ichigo's shoulders bobbed up and down in his silent laughter. "**Didn't you figure it out yet? I'm not Ichigo. I could never be anything as weak and pathetic as him. Weren't you listening? I'm so much better than him." **His head slowly inched upward until his eyes met with Isshin's. Isshin stumbled backwards as he felt Ichigo's spirit pressure raise enough to match his own. Had he been suppressing it the whole time? Hell if Isshin knew, but what he was sure of was that this was definitely not Ichigo anymore, the black and yellow eyes and ridiculously large reiatsu was more than enough proof of that.

"W-who are you? If your name is not Ichigo then what is it?" Isshin had only hoped that this wasn't getting the attention of the Soul Society, because that would be a bitch to explain.

He didn't look too pleased to have been asked that. "**I ain't got a name, and I don't need one either." **His body twitched slightly "**Huh, oh I see," **he closed his eyes for a second "**, you're still holding me back, is that it, Zangetsu-san**. **Fine, I'll wait the whole week as I promised, but after that he and his whole family is fair game, got it? . . . . Good." **and with that said he fell back on the bed. A moment later Ichigo roused and sat up holding his head with one hand. ". . .Must have fallen asleep, I haven't been getting much sleep lately on account to the dreams; oh, hi mom."

Isshin turned his head and for the first time noticed Masaki standing there. "Ichigo, Tatsuki-chan came by; she's down stairs waiting for you." Ichigo groaned as he hopped off the bed. "Something wrong, Ichigo?"

Ichigo paused just before leaving. "Yeah, I forgot I had karate practice today. Tatsuki is going to kill me." And then he left, leaving Masaki and Isshin in an odd and uncomfortable silence.

Masaki was the first to speak. "Did . . . did you see?" she was fidgeting with the hem of her shirt as she stared down at the ground.

Isshin resisted the urge to say 'no shit'. How could he not have seen? He was only standing right there the entire time. "Yeah, what was that?" Isshin asked. He was curious as to how much she thought she knew.

She tried not to cry, really she did. But as the thought of what she was about to say rose in her mind she couldn't help but let the tears fall. "He is one of Them now."

* * *

The rest of the day had proved uneventful for Ichigo. After receiving his, in Tatsuki's opinion, well deserved ass kicking for 'ditching her', he decided to just stay in his room for the remainder of the day. He glanced over at his clock on his nightstand, 11:37 PM. He wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to stay awake. He had almost fell asleep about ten times at it was, and at the rate he was going at the eleventh attempt would be the charm. '_Why is this happening to me? Why me? I'm not a bad person. I do everything that I am supposed to do, don't I?' _Nothing made sense anymore. He had to have been going crazy; it was the only logical explanation. Sane people didn't have voices in there head screaming for dominance. Sane people weren't afraid to go to sleep for fear that they will be transported to some sideways world were the voice in there head can physically harm them. To put it as simply as he knew how, sane people were not like Ichigo. He almost cried when he felt that intense buzzing in the back of his mind that he had come to fear like a plague. It was him again, and he was calling him.

Ichigo closed his eyes for only the length of a blink, but when he opened them he was already inside. His fear was eroded somewhat as he noticed he was alone. "Don't worry, he won't come." Well almost alone anyway.

Looking in the direction that the voice had originated, Ichigo saw a man. He bore many scares on his face and looked, for lack of a better word, tired, bored even. The glasses that he wore did little to hinder his rather intimidating posture. But what was most notable about him was the cloak that moved with the wind, which Ichigo found particularly odd since there was no wind at the time. "Who . . . who are you?"

Having already answered that question once before and knowing that even if he did answer it again that he wouldn't hear it anyway, he opted to just forgo the question entirely. "I have brought you here for only one reason, Ichigo."

Ichigo's eyes widened slightly. "H-how do you know my name?"

Also having explained that once before, he again forgone the question. "You have not truly forgotten Ichigo. The memory of that day is still alive, within you."

He furrowed his eyebrows slightly giving his face a scowl. "What day? What are you talking about?" The older man simply began to walk away. Ichigo, thinking that man was trying to leave ran after him only to stop once he saw where he was headed. One particular window on the ground had caught Ichigo's interest the most. It was boarded up with thick planks of wood. "Uh, hey, old man, what is that?" he pointed to the window.

The old man glanced over his shoulder. "That, is the missing day." He stopped waking once he was standing right in front of it. "Do you want to become stronger? Do you want to remain King?"

Did he? He wasn't exactly sure. But what he was positive on was that if he definitely didn't want to die, he would have to get stronger. Or else 'it' would come for him. "Yeah, I guess."

That wasn't really the answer that the old man was looking for but it would just have to do. "Very well, come and gaze through the veil placed over your eyes and see the truth, as it was intended to be seen."

Ichigo walked over to the window with a perplexed expression on his face. "Uh, ok but first one question. How am I supposed to see through that? The wood is like two feet thick . . ."

The one thing the old man absolutely detested was reiteration. The constant going and coming of the same thing annoyed him more than it should have. So when ever he was asked to repeat some thing he usually didn't. But he understood that the boy was young and inexperienced and for that reason alone he tolerated the nuisance of repetition. "The wood is only as thick as you want it to be. If you want the memories to remain lost, the wood can be as large as the sky; however, if you truly want to uncover them, it could be as thin and transparent as a shard of glass."

Ichigo tapped his chin in thought. "So what you are saying is that the wood is only thick like it is because of my own doubts?"

"Precisely." Was all the old man said.

'_So all I have to do is be resolute. Ok, I can do this. I do want them back!' _He clenched his eyes shut and focused as hard as his brain allowed. '_I want to get stronger! I want to be King! I want to win!'_ He snapped his eyes open but what he saw wasn't at all what he expected to see. "Uh, old man, I don't think its working . . ."

* * *

Isshin had a difficult time getting to sleep at all that night. As it had turned out Masaki knew a lot more than he expected. In fact she knew a lot more than she should have been able to learn in her relatively short lifespan and that had raised a few red flags in his mind. She had explained what she had knew to Isshin, but he had a gut instinct that she may have known even more than what she had told. '_There are two kinds of spirits.'_ She explained. '_There are the good kinds, lets call them pluses ok? And there are bad kinds, we'll call them hollows.' _Right when she said that he knew something was off. There was no way she could have found that out on her own. Whatever had happened during that attack, it had some how gave her an opportunity to gather this information. That or some dip-stick of a shinigami told her, but that wasn't likely, after all, no shinigami no matter how incompetent they were, would ever openly disclose such information and then allow that human to keep said information committed to memory. No, he suspected someone else was involved. So that was why he was sitting in his kitchen staring purposely at the cordless phone in front of him. He snatched it up and angrily jabbed in the appropriate digits. It rang twice before the call was answered and a sickly sweet voice sounded over the line. "Hello. Urahara Shoten, Urahara speaking!"

Isshin tried his best to keep himself from shouting. He, after all, didn't want to wake his family. "Kisuke, you have got a shit load of explaining to do."

* * *

**Retribution © Tenma-Chakun  
Written and Created by Tenma-Chakun & Archimedes III  
Characters based on the characters from Bleach  
Excerpts from The Bleach Manga © Viz media  
Based on the Manga Bleach  
Bleach © Viz Media and Jump Comics**


	3. Chapter 3

He closed his eyes and tried again, straining his mind as best he knew how. He knew he could do it, he knew he could. His resolve was set. Ichigo opened his eyes only to see that the wooden planks had increased in size. "Urgh, this is impossible!" he had been trying to work his way into that window since he had first come, lord knows how long ago.

The old man just watched Ichigo in complete silence. The boy could do it; he had the potential, that much was certain. But he was holding himself back. What was he so afraid of seeing? "You doubt yourself. The more you believe you cannot do it, the more it becomes true. If you really want to uncover your lost memory and gain the strength necessary to keep your place as King, then you must want to." He watched as Ichigo scowled at him "Nothing is impossible. Things may range in difficulty and someone with less experience and a weaker resolve will find things harder to achieve."

"Are you saying that the reason I can't do it is my fault?! Get real! I'm trying as hard as I can and nothing is happening!" he was beyond frustrated. Hours had gone by with him going at it with absolutely no progression. He was tired of all this dream crap. All he really wanted to do was go home and sleep, real sleep, not this sideways bull. "I can't take it anymore! I'm done with this, how do I go home?"

The old man only stared in silence. He could understand the boy's frustration to an extent. People did not like to fail. It was a common human flaw that almost the entire species suffered from. But this one's failure was his fault and his alone. If he failed to see reason then he would just have to show him, even if it killed him. "If you go now, then it will already be too late to save yourself. If you won't do it alone, then perhaps he can show you." His gaze shifted to slightly behind Ichigo.

Ichigo turned but recoiled instantly as a fist made solid contact with his face. "**Humph, don't say he didn't warn you Ichigo." **Before he saw it he heard it, and with it a familiar sense of fear washed over him. No this went beyond fear, this was madness. This was torture. 'It' was a poison to Ichigo, some thing to which there was no cure. He couldn't bring him self to look up, not if that thing was there. The pain he felt in his jaw was nothing compared to the pain he felt in his mind, in his heart. "**I thought I told you; don't look so surprised to see me Ichigo. You knew I'd be back. After all this is going to be my world in about six days right?"** the look of fear upon Ichigo's face made a shiver run up the things spine, and he had to resist the urge to squeal in delight.

The old man honestly didn't want to bring it here, at least not yet. But Ichigo was too stubborn for his own good. He had to unlock those memories if he had any hopes of beating the thing that plagued him. But at the rate he was currently going he would die if not by his own fear then by the one that caused his fear. "You can't allow fear to rule you Ichigo. He is only as strong as you are. But there are many differences between you. He has an unbendable resolve. You have practically none. He knows no fear. You are ruled by it. But the biggest difference between you two is, he can wield a zanpakutou, you cannot."

Ichigo wearily made his way to his feet keeping aware of the things location as best he could with out actually looking at it. "Zanpakutou, what's that?"

"**This." **Replied the thing as he lifted a massive sword onto his shoulder.

Ichigo was once again frozen with fear as his eyes shifted to it. The thing was huge. "T-that's a zanpakutou?!" Ichigo couldn't believe his eyes. How could that thing even lift that? It was almost twice as long as he was tall! And the old man said that he could wield something like that if he got in that window? But now wasn't the time to have fan boyish fantasies of some manga he had read. If what the old man said was true then this thing could probably kill him right now, which means that it was only toying with him now. Was this some piss poor way of motivation? "**I don't think so, Ichigo. I won't let you live if you don't want to."**

Ichigo's eyes widened significantly. Had that thing read his thoughts? "But I do want to live! I-I don't want to die, I swear I don't!" he was, once again almost put to tears. The thing simply rolled its eyes as it looked at the pathetic excuse of a warrior. Not only was he a whiny little brat, but the idiot couldn't fight, he wasn't particularly smart, tactically speaking, and he couldn't even do some thing as simple as lifting a simple memory replacement spell! The spell was so weak the thing was having trouble not to accidentally break it with its reiatsu alone. It was almost as if whoever placed it wanted it to be broken. "**Goddamn it, will you shut the fuck up! I told you already didn't I? Prove to me that you are worthy to live! Prove that you are worthy to use the old man. And more importantly, PROVE THAT YOU ARE WOTHY TO BE **_**MY **_**KING!! Or else I will definitely kill you."**

Ichigo swallowed hard as he chose his next words carefully. "Ok, I _will_ do it. I _will_ uncover my lost memory. And I will _most definitely_ prove my worth!" with his resolve set Ichigo walked purposely over to the window once again. "I will _not _fail. I swear I won't."

* * *

Isshin wasn't in a particularly happy mood. After his phone call to Kisuke, they had decided that it would be safer to discuss this matter in person. Soul Society had many resources after all and you never knew who might be listening in. So after brief deliberation they had decided that Kisuke's own training cavern would be the most logical place to be. Not even Soul Society could get surveillance down there without Urahara's knowledge. So that was why Isshin was traveling to a utility store at the unholy hour of 3 AM. Somehow he just knew that this whole thing was in some way Kisuke's fault, or at least most of it was. If Isshin had known about that hollow attack, then Kisuke was more than likely on the scene at the time. But for Urahara's sake he had better hope that this was all false speculation or there would be some serious hell to pay.

Reaching the 'Urahara Shoten' a short while later, he let himself in. Not really in the mood for greetings he opted to ignore the over large store assistant, that so eagerly welcomed him. "Where is Urahara?" Isshin wanted answers and he wanted them now. As the assistant led him through the store to the entrance of the cavern he was told that Kisuke was already inside. Wasting no time on thanks he just went down the ridiculously long ladder. Reaching the bottom he immediately met eyes with Urahara. Using shunpo he was instantly by his side.

"Ah, I see you have gotten quite efficient with that gigai of yours Isshin-san." He knew that Isshin was pissed and his mood would only worsen once Urahara had told his tale but there wasn't much that he could do about it at this point. Well that wasn't completely true. He could always lie like there was no tomorrow, and if Isshin was half as upset as he thought he was then there might just be no tomorrow for him. Though Urahara wasn't above lying to his friends, he felt that Isshin deserved the truth. And the truth he would get; the bitter, ugly truth.

"One has to after fifty years of being trapped inside, does one not?" not that his mood had improved over the coarse of a few seconds but Isshin was indeed trying his absolute hardest to keep calm. Urahara was his friend and he wasn't stupid enough to actually let harm come to _his_ closest friend's family was he. Urahara was the type of person that, if for the sake of his science, would let your entire world crumble, but he wouldn't still be like that after all these years would he? No he wouldn't have let that happen right?

"Yes well I suppos-"

"Where you there the night of the attack?" he couldn't wait any longer. His mind was generating too many scenarios that could have possibly happened that night and Kisuke was present in all of them. He would give Urahara the benefit of the doubt and let him explain from his side of the story. And for his sake he had better hope that it was a good enough reason to keep Isshin from splitting his skull.

"What night, Kurosa-"

"Don't play dumb Kisuke! You know damn well what I'm talking about! Where you there?!"

Silence reigned supreme for quite some time. Neither wanting to speak, each for there own reasons. In the end, however, it was Kisuke who inevitably broke it. "Yes I was there." He saw how Isshin's face morphed in to one of pure fury. As he took his first menacing step towards Urahara he quickly added, "But I wasn't the only one." Now Isshin wore a confused look. "I didn't quite get there on time but when I did I saw someone there already. It looked like he was placing a memory replacement charm on the both of them, your son and wife I mean. He left a short while later and that's when I came and removed the spell from your wife. I thought it would be better to leave it on the boy."

"What did you tell Masaki?" Isshin was truly calm about the situation, at least were it concerned Urahara. But this new information had put him on an all new edge. So someone else had come into contact with his family. "And who was this 'mystery person'?"

"Well to your first question, I told her everything that she wanted to know, well almost every thing. And to your second question, I have absolutely no idea." Ok now that was a lie. He had got a clear view on who it was but even if he hadn't there was no way he could have mistaken that reiatsu for any one else. But Isshin didn't need to know about that, at least not yet.

"You said you told her 'almost every thing she wanted to know', what didn't you tell her?" Isshin asked.

Urahara remembered the entire line of questioning that Masaki had asked him. "After I explained to her about the two types of spirits, pluses and hollows, she was terrified that there were things like that allowed to run rampant, so I told her about shinigami, and there purpose in this world. But what she wanted to know that I didn't tell her was whether or not you were a shinigami."

Isshin's eyes bulged out of his head. "Me, she wanted to know if I were a shinigami?! Why did she even think that?"

Urahara only shrugged. "Beats me." That was also a lie. After he explained about shinigami, Masaki had asked about here son and his strange appearance, which he then explained that the status of shinigami could be passed down from ones parents. So what if he might of let that slip and made her promise not to tell a soul no matter what? It wasn't that big of a deal right?

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

**Flashback**

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

_Masaki looked at him with wide eyes "Well I am not a shinigami, so does that mean that Isshin . . . Yes that makes so much sense!"_

_Urahara bit his tongue as he realized the error in his previous statement. "Uh, no that doesn't make any sense at all; I mean if he was a shinigami then you would know right? I mean he wouldn't keep something like that a secret right, you guys have too much trust for each other right?"_

_Masaki tapped her chin in thought. "Nope, he is a shinigami. I am sure of it!" _

"_Oh man, you really done it this time Kisuke." He mumbled under his breath "Look that is very dangerous information. You can't tell anyone that you know no matter what. Not even your family."_

"_But he is a shinigami right?"_

"_Oh! Tessai-san, is that you calling me? Ok I am on my way! Sorry Kurosaki-san but I have to go!" and with that he ran as if the minions of hell were on his heels._

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

**End-Flashback**

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Isshin's eyes narrowed suspiciously at his 'friend'. "Right, I bet you don't know."

"Isshin; what's going on?" a very familiar female voice from behind him called.

Isshin groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Masaki, you left the kids home alone?"

* * *

Masaki had been awake since her husband had got out of bed. At first she assumed he was just going to the bathroom but when he failed to return she got suspicious. Raising herself out of bed she went to the bathroom only to find it empty. As she began to return to the room she heard his voice coming from down stairs; curious she walked as silently as possible to the kitchen where she saw Isshin talking on the phone. "Kisuke you have got a shit load of explaining to do." He whispered harshly. Masaki did her best to keep her presence hidden; sticking close to the wall she sneaked closer to the kitchen. "The hollow attack, I want to know what you know . . . . . . I don't give a damn; this is my family we are talking about . . . . . . . fine where . . . . . . Kisuke you had better not be- . . . . . . . ok I'll be there in ten minutes." When she heard the phone beep signaling the call had ended she, just as sneakily as before, made her way up stairs.

She had remembered that the man she had spoken to after that thing had attacked her, '_No not thing, hollow.'_ She reminded her self. After the hollow had attacked her and Ichigo the man that had come was named Kisuke Urahara. Was it the same Kisuke that her husband was talking to? '_Only one way to find out I suppose.'_ She hurried back into bed and as expected Isshin had entered a short moment later to put on some shoes before heading back out again. She noted at how he did it without making a single sound. Which only served to heighten her suspicions that he was in fact a, what was it called again? Oh, yes, a 'shinigami'. She waited about two minutes before throwing a pair of sneakers on and as stealthily as she knew how went down stairs once again. She made it just in time to see Isshin close the door behind him. Grabbing a coat off of the hook, see peered through the peep-hole on the door and waited until he was out of eye sight to exit the house.

She kept a good twenty to thirty foot gap in between them as she followed him. As promised he reached the door of what looked like a standard utility store ten minutes after leaving the house. After he had gone inside she walked up to the door and pressed her ear against it and strained herself to listen as hard as she could. "Ahem!" A small voice from behind her said and it took everything in her power to not pass out from the sudden surge of fear that coursed through her. She turned her head slightly and saw a young girl no older than her own daughters standing there. "Urahara-san told me to take you around the back way when you came." She said.

Masaki was thoroughly confused. How had he known that she would come when honest to god she didn't even know she would until just a few minutes ago? "H-he is expecting me?" the whole thing seemed wrong some how, to convenient; but she wanted answers and she wanted them now.

The little girl nodded. "Yes he knew you would follow your husband. He told me 'When stalker-chan arrives take her to the back entrance of the training cavern and tell her to be really quiet.' So please be quiet stalker-chan."

Masaki tried to suppress the sudden twitch of her eyebrow. She cleared her throat before talking. "My name is not stalker-chan, I am Masaki Kurosaki. What is your name?"

"My name is Ururu, it's a pleasure to meet you stalker-chan." She didn't notice the massive sweat drop that formed on Masaki's head as she walked away. "The back entrance is this way stalker-chan." With a sigh Masaki gave up and instead just followed the girl in silence. They reached the 'back entrance' a short moment later. "Please enter through there stalker-chan." She pointed to a small hatch on the ground.

Masaki just entered the small hatch without question. She grabbed the ladder and descended down into the cavern and what a long trek it was. By the time she reached the bottom it looked as if the two occupants were just getting ready to leave. She took a moment to catch her breath before speaking. "Isshin; what's going on?" she watched him stiffen before he groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Masaki, you left the kids home alone?" he said with out turning around. The way Masaki had figured it he didn't know how long she had been standing there, so maybe she could get him to reveal some information. "How did you get here anyway?"

She glanced at her wrist watch. "Its 3:19 in the morning what's the worst that can happen? And as to how I got here, well, I followed you."

Isshin had only groaned again. "Well I guess we have some explaining to do, huh?"

Masaki didn't answer, she only crossed her arms as she stared at his back. She wasn't sure what exactly she wanted to know but she knew that she had questions that she wanted answered. And she'd be damned if she would go home without them today. Isshin sighed deeply before turning around. "Well it's like this, but you have to keep it a secret, you see I am a shinigami. And I know I still look all sexy and everything," Masaki just rolled her eyes at this ", but I'm actually about ten times the age you think I am. I was exiled from a place called The Soul Society for uh, we'll get to that later. Anyway so it would seem that because of his high reiatsu, that's spiritual strength by the way, Ichigo drew the attention of what you know to be a hollow."

Urahara chose this moment to but in. "Actually, the hollow was most likely attracted to _her_ reiatsu rather than your son's. In case you haven't noticed it is quite large." And it was, in fact it was a surprise that neither Masaki nor Ichigo was attacked sooner.

Isshin eyes were cast downward as he spoke. "Actually I can't really sense reiatsu all that good right now . . ." not that he wasn't good with reiatsu it's just that ever since his power was sealed he had found it increasingly difficult to sense any kind of spiritual pressure.

Urahara nearly dropped his fan upon hearing this. "You have got to be kidding me! Do you mean to tell me that you can use shunpo in your gigai but you can't even sense reiatsu?! Is that even possible?!"

Isshin spun back around to Urahara. "I can use shunpo?!" he shouted clearly back to his usual self.

Masaki just stood there dumbfounded as she watched the two of them bicker. So her husband was in fact a shinigami and not only that but he was a freaking dinosaur! Little did Masaki know, however, she had been thinking out loud.

"I AM NOT A DINOSAUR!" Isshin whined with tears running freely down his face. Yes he was definitely back to his usual, idiotic self.

* * *

Ichigo had promised that he wouldn't fail, but he was doing just that. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't get the damned memory to unlock. The moment after he had attempted to do it after 'it' had showed up he managed to get it back to its original size but any progress after that was just not possible, in his mind at least. He had to go with a different approach that much was certain. He tried to think of an alternative method but ultimately came up empty handed. His frustration reached its apex and with a shout he kicked the 'wooden' barricade as hard as physically possible which resulted in intense pain on his part. He grabbed his foot and hopped up and down while simultaneously spewing every curse word he could think of at the time, which wasn't many seeing as how he didn't like to swear _too_ much. After his pain had ebbed away some he glared hatefully at the pile of thick lumber, but then his face morphed into one of glee at what he saw. A massive crack had formed in the affronted piece of material. '_So that's how I was supposed to do it all along?!'_

The old man stared blankly at the rather unorthodox method he had chosen to lift the spell. It wasn't unheard of to use ones might alone to do such a thing, but for one so young and inexperienced to do it with only minor self inflicted injury was quite the sight to behold. But if it was what worked for the boy then so be it. He watched in mildly interested silence as the boy joyfully ran to the side of the small blockade and attempted to lift it with his bare hands. If physically attacking it was unorthodox then actually trying to lift it with your bare hands was practically impossible, which was why when the planks began to move, the old man went from mildly interested silence to infinitely astound silence.

The thing wasn't impressed in the least. He could have destroyed that spell in a blink of an eye yet it took this pathetic sack of meat several hours just to think of a way to go about it. He wasn't exactly thrilled to see him succeed but that was after all the purpose of this entire ploy. He would have gladly taken control of his 'King's' body, and he most certainly would have enjoyed massacring his family and friends if only to hear him cry out in dismay. But he could wait for a little while longer. He wanted Ichigo to become as strong as possible so that by extension he would be as strong as possible. That was his true goal. And once he was satisfied he would get rid of the king and the old man. Then there would be no one that could challenge him for the throne. But patience was indeed a virtue, and one he would willingly accept, at least until the time was right. Or he just became so bored that the only source of entertainment would be to advance his plots, which ever came first.

With a shout of pure untainted satisfaction the first plank flew free, the rest shortly after; leaving a red faced Ichigo greedily sucking up air from his exertion. "I, I did it! I told you that I would do it and look, I did it just like I said!" he proclaimed proudly this was maybe the highlight of his life. In his mind he crowned this moment, '_Ichigo achieves the impossible'_, clearly forgetting that the task set out before him was by no means impossible only difficult for the weak minded and spirited.

The thing was doing its best from separating the boy's upper half from his lower half, but if he ran one more victory lap around him then he couldn't be held accountable for his actions. He rather enjoyed the thought of killing the King right then and there but it had its future plans to think about. It extended its hand and grabbed Ichigo when he ran by him again. "**I wouldn't be so happy yet Ichigo. Lifting the spell was only half of the task; let's see if you can survive the second half!" **and with that said he promptly threw Ichigo directly into the now open window. "**Try not to die while you're down there Ichigo! It would be a real pain for me if you died!" **he shouted into the window before Ichigo fell from sight.

The old man watched the scene play out in front of him in silence, as per his usual. When the thing had tossed Ichigo into the window he resisted the urge to sigh at its antics. "There is no second half. Lifting the spell was all that was necessary. His memory would have returned by the time he returned to the physical realm."

"**I know, but where is the fun in that?" **The old man merely stared blankly at him. "**Oh, come on; that was funny!" **another blank stare. "**Che, you have no sense of humor." **It noticed that its legs were disappearing. "**WHAT, YOU'RE NOT EVEN GOING TO LET ME SEE HOW IT TURNS OUT?! Che, you're no damn fun you know that?"**

Once the thing was completely gone and the old man was left alone he let out a ragged sigh and pinched his nose. "Idiots."

* * *

Ichigo fell in to the dark abyss that was the window. He didn't know what he was thinking letting his guard down in such proximity to that thing. Did he honestly believe that it wouldn't harm him because he had succeeded in lifting that stupid spell? No, not entirely; he mainly just completely forgot about it. Just like how he had forgotten how afraid of heights he was. But that was swiftly remembered as the darkness was replaced with vaguely familiar scenery. As the earth beneath him rapidly rose to meet him, he let a blood gurgling scream of terror. He clenched his eyes shut when he was just a few feet away from the ground, and instinctively braced for the inevitable impact . . . that never came. He opened his eyes and saw that not only was he not falling like he had been just a few moments ago but he was already walking. He immediately discovered that he had absolutely no control of his body. '_What the . . . wait I can't even speak?!' _he gloomily noted. He glanced around him and the first thing that he had noticed was that he was walking hand in hand with his mother. '_Mom?' _now he was confused. What did she have to do with him getting some stupid power that would allow him to remain King of his 'Domain'?

"Mom," Ichigo said without meaning to.

"Hmm?" his mother asked, smiling down at him.

"You should let me walk by the curb." He told her with a serious expression on his face.

"And why would I do that?" she asked as she looked around.

"Just in case a car comes by and splashes a puddle, I can protect you." He said attempting to switch places with Masaki.

"I couldn't allow that. I'm your mother, I should be protecting you." She smiled to him again. Ichigo's face fell slightly in disappointment. "Tell you what. Every time you win in karate I'll let you protect me once, okay?"

"But I did win one time. I beat Tatsuki-chan just the other day!" He said with such an extreme sense of determination in his voice.

"Really? That's wonderful! But let's start from today okay."

Ichigo just smiled and nodded. But some thing around him just felt . . . off. He had the strangest feeling that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. '_Like I'm being watched…'_ He thought as he tightened the grip he had on his mother's hand.

Some how this all seemed so familiar but at the same time brand new, like he was experiencing it for the first time. '_I definitely don't remember any of this. But how can seeing this get me any power? And what is the strange feeling that I have?'_

The next set of events came so fast they were like flashes. Somewhere down the line he had let go of his mothers hand and went to play with some stick that looked eerily like a sword, the irony that was held in the object didn't fall deafly on Ichigo. He fell and his mother helped him up and wiped his face with a handkerchief.

"You should be more careful sweetie, ok?" she lightly scolded, if it could even be considered a scolding.

"Ah, but I'm ok mom. Look, no scratches or nothing!" Ichigo proclaimed with more than a little pride.

He was about to comment further when he heard something that sounded an awful lot like crying. Turning, he saw a girl. She seemed to be having trouble staying afloat in the flooded river bank. Reacting purely on instinct he bolted over to her. He knew he had to help her if he could, and he intended on doing just that.

"Ichigo!!" He barely heard his mother calling out to him from behind. He was about half way there when, for reasons he could not explain, his body suddenly froze. "Ichigo!!" His mother shouted as she rushed to his side. "Ichigo what's wrong?" She asked as she noticed the far away look in her son's eyes. Ichigo shook his head back and forth trying to clear his mind. He was in a daze, completely unaware of everything around him.

"**Hmm? It didn't work? Well that's a first." **A demonic like voice rang out. Ichigo's eyes widened as he heard it. That was definitely familiar. "**Not that it matters anyway. You're still going to be a pleasant meal! **It said as it charged at them. Giant footprints began to appear one after another as it drew closer and closer. His mother seemed none the wiser.

"Ichigo, what's wrong? What do you see?!" she asked frantically as she saw the raw fear in her son's eyes. Ichigo screamed in his mind for her to run, but it was all in vain in the end. Masaki was thrown violently against a wall.

"MOMMY!" Ichigo shouted with tears in his eyes. '_No. . .not again! I remember now, I remember! Please, old man, help me! Help me save her.'_

"_Can you save her Ichigo? These events have already transpired; there is nothing you can do for her." _The old man's voice came to his mind. Suddenly he was outside of his body watching the events from a third person perspective. Wasting no time he ran as fast as his bodiless feet would carry him, which was actually extremely fast. He couldn't even see his own movements.

"**I think I'll save the best for best!" **it growled as it walked past Ichigo's frozen body and headed straight for Masaki's dazed form. "**I could go for an appetizer!" **It said.

Ichigo gathered all of his courage and ran at the monster only to fall straight through. Again the old man's voice drifted through his head. "_This is only a memory Ichigo; you can not alter any of these events. The past is written in stone, Ichigo." _Ichigo ignored the voice as he watched it pin his mother against a wall.

"**Mm! You smell so good! I bet you're tasty!"** Though Masaki couldn't see the caster of the voice she most defiantly felt the heavy blow that was delivered to the back of her head.

"_I can't just stand here and do nothing! But what can I do if I can't touch anything," _he attempted to pick up a rock but his hand passed right through it. Tears weld up in his eyes. "_But I have to do something . . . I just have to." _Just then the 'physical' Ichigo ran up to the monster.

His approach did not go unnoticed by the beast. In fact it was anticipated. Reacting immediately to the smaller prey's presence it swiftly captured him in a web like dome of fur. "_**Why so hasty, hm, Ichigo?"**_ the beast said using the name that he heard the woman call him. Now he was completely transfixed on Ichigo and his intoxicating scent.

Ichigo could only watch helplessly as the monster penetrated Ichigo's body. Physical Ichigo shouted as pain erupted from various parts of his body. Ichigo's eyes widened when he saw the monster _peel_ away the physical form of his former self. "**It's a curtsey to tell you're name before you kill someone, ne, Ichigo? Though I'm not really killing you…I'M GOING TO EAT YOU!!"** With that said it launched Ichigo into the air. As he came down he saw the monster in all his glory; its bright red fur and its bone colored mask froze his blood white. The monster leaned back "**Call Me, Grand Fisher." **And that was the last thing Ichigo heard before he fell into the hollows mouth.

More images passed before Ichigo's eyes even faster this time. He saw the old man in that side ways world. He listened as he told him to unleash his hidden power. He watched as the world fell apart and while his former self fell into the darkness. And then he heard the call of 'It'. "_So that is how he came? During the merger . . ."_

Now he was back in the original 'world' with that monster. Then a massive sword ripped through the monsters stomach. The monster dropped Masaki as it howled in pain. "**W-What is this?!"**

The sword kept pushing through until it reached the hilt. A small arm clutched it tightly. Ichigo could only star with his mouth gaping open. "I-Ichigo…" Masaki breathed barely above a whisper.

'It' pushed and squirmed its way out of the great wound. With a howl the monster jumped away, leaving a large trail of blood as it did. It grinned sadistically as it began to follow.

"Ichigo!!" Masaki called.

It froze "**Ichigo? whozzat?" **it said as it turned around and revealed its partially developed hollow mask. Masaki opened her mouth to speak, but before she could utter a word, its tiny hand closed around her windpipe. It laughed insanely as it watched her fall into unconsciousness.

'_Rip off the mask.'_ The old man's voice rang out in his head and Ichigo was on it in a second pulling as hard as humanly possible.

"**What?!" **It shouted as his hand released Masaki and gripped the mask. It dropped the sword and grabbed his wrist. "**Let go damn it!!" **

"G-GET OUT-T!" '_Yeah get out of my body!'_

"**Damn you! Aren't** **you dead yet?!" **'_Not even close!'_

"G**O** A**W**A**Y**!!" They both screamed as the mask was torn off. Ichigo was blown backward as the massive explosion of energy ripped through the air. The mask shattered as it hit the ground. "M-mommy . . . I . . ." was the last thing Ichigo heard before the world faded to black.

He opened his eyes and wasn't sure if he should be glad or upset to be back in the sideways world, staring at the old man. "Congratulations, Ichigo, you have proven it all. You are still the King of your world."

"Whoopdy freaking doo . . . but does that mean that that thing can't come back?"

The old man nodded "For now. Rest now Ichigo." And just like that the world once again turned black.

* * *

**Retribution © Tenma-Chakun  
Written and Created by Tenma-Chakun & Archimedes III  
Characters based on the characters from Bleach  
Excerpts from The Bleach Manga © Viz media  
Based on the Manga Bleach  
Bleach © Viz Media and Jump Comics**


	4. Chapter 4

Ichigo awoke to the infernal sound of his alarm clock. With a groan he smacked the snooze button and pulled the blanket over his head. The events of the previous night played freshly in his mind and he vaguely wondered if it was real or not, but in the end he opted to just drop the matter entirely. It really didn't matter if it was real or just some sugar induced dream; what he was more concerned about was his sanity or lack there of. If it was just a dream then he seriously needed to lay off the bed time snacks but if it wasn't then he just didn't know how much longer he could cope. He rose from his prone position and wearily made his way to the bathroom and almost yelped when he looked into the mirror. Was it just him or was he paler then usual? And not just his skin but his hair as well; and his eyes seemed almost yellow while the normally white was now a murky tone of gray but when he blinked every thing seemed normal. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his mind he filled the sink with cold water and leaned in close to splash his face, a practice he had done every morning for as long as he could remember. Grabbing a nearby hand towel he quickly padded his face dry before looking in the mirror again and this time he didn't just yelp, he shouted as loud as his lungs were capable. He wasn't staring at his own image but the image of the thing from his nightmares. And then it was gone . . . completely. Nothing was left behind.

And then he woke up.

With most haste he hopped out of his bed. No, he wasn't sure at all how much longer he could cope with the newly found insanity that was his life. He cautiously made his way to the bathroom and peered in to the mirror. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that all was normal that is aside from the almost inaudible chuckle dancing through his mind. And with that he knew it all to be real; none of it was a dream. As he was en route back to his room he encountered his mother, who simply smiled that forced smile that she used so often lately. Ichigo wasn't adolescent enough to not realize the change in his mother, how she looked at him differently, not like she didn't love him, more like he was deathly ill and there wasn't anything she could do about it. But given what he now knew he could understand why she felt the way she did, he after all felt the same way. The only question was did she remember as well?

"Breakfast is ready sweetie, go down stairs ok." She watched him nod to her and silently head to the kitchen. A lot of things were confusing her about this situation. The entire affair seemed completely unbelievable, and if she hadn't been witness to half of it personally then she would have doubted the sanity of her informants. Shinigami, God of death. Her son as well as her husband was a shinigami; in fact even her daughters by extension were now shinigami. In the deepest alcove of her mind she felt a tad bit of jealousy, and that bothered her but in truth Masaki Kurosaki just didn't know how to feel. She was a part of a family of grim reapers or some thing terribly close to it. Should she be afraid? No, that was no way to think. This was her family, _her_ family. There was nothing wrong with any of them. If they were all shinigami, well she would deal with it. But honestly, the thing that scared her most was what that man, Kisuke Urahara, had told her just that morning.

_He had remained silent throughout Isshin's entire explanation. He just stood there watching them with a sort of half smirk on his face. Every so often Masaki would look over at him and their eyes would meet for a few tense moments before she would look away. There was something about him that just seemed . . . odd. Once Isshin had told her every thing or at least every thing that she wanted to know Urahara took that moment to finally put in. _

"_Things will be hard for you and your family from now on Kurosaki-san. With the scent of a shinigami on him, Ichigo will most certainly catch the attention of many hollows, but believe me when I say that that is the least of your worries. If Ichigo-kun some how manifests his shinigami powers any further then he will with out a doubt draw the attention of The Soul Society. Some one already knows about him. And if this person knows there is no telling who else would know. What I am trying to say is this; your son will be considered, in the eyes of Soul Society, a rouge shinigami, and because of that if Soul Society catches wind of this they will hunt him down until he is dead. Do you understand?"_

_Masaki could hardly respond to that. This was honestly too much to absorb at one time. "But why? He's just a boy for Christ's sake! What harm can he possibly be?"_

_Urahara's grin faded and was replaced with a deathly serious face. "You are still to naïve to understand this fully. I can't blame you for having doubts; you are after all only human. Ururu! Come here please!" In an instant the small girl that had shown Masaki here was standing in front of him. "If you can't believe with words alone then I will show you. In the world of spirits never, ever, under any circumstance, think that size and age has any thing to do with power. Ururu," he pointed to a boulder about the same size as the store above, a few yards away. ", bring that to me." Not asking any questions, Ururu moved to the opposite side of said boulder and pushed it with little effort right next to Urahara._

"_Mission accomplished." Was all that she said when she was done. _

_Urahara's eyes never left Masaki's as he spoke. "Good . . . now destroy it." Masaki's eyes widened, she wanted to oppose but inside of her mind she felt like she didn't have to. She knew it would be done, after all she had just stood witness to the girl moving it, and that alone was proof of something but what that something was she was not entirely sure of. As soon as the order left Urahara's mouth Ururu delivered the most powerful kick she could and demolished the rock in a flash of reiatsu and flying debris. "Good girl. Go and get some rest now ok."_

_Ururu nodded. "Ok, Urahara-san." She was gone just as fast as she had arrived._

"_So you see Kurosaki-san, you must never judge a book by its cover or it may just be the death of you." Masaki was left wide eyed as she watched him from her position on the ground. The explosion that that girl had produced had knocked her clean off of her feet and she simply didn't have the heart to get back up._

A lot of things were confusing her about this situation, but on top of it all she feared for her son's life.

* * *

Anyone who knew Urahara Kisuke would probably say that he was something of a puppet master, having orchestrated many events that would some how benefit him in some way. But naturally he didn't feel that way. He liked to think of himself as a play writer; someone who could turn nothing into something with little to no effort on his part but would still in some way allow him to reap the rewards. But he was no puppet master; he could never intentionally hurt anyone unless he absolutely had no other choice. He was generally a good person but in short Urahara was a troublemaker. Ever since he was a child, he and Yoruichi would often pull the worst kinds of pranks on people; he didn't know why he enjoyed it so much, he just couldn't help it. So when he told Isshin and his wife about Soul Society hunting Ichigo, he may have failed to mention that they had already had their sights on him from the finality of that rather eventful night one week ago, and it was only a matter of time before they acted.

And this was the reason why he once again got out his proverbial pen and paper; he had another play to write. Ichigo would naturally have to be trained, but the question was by whom? Under any other circumstances Urahara would have seen to it personally, but his hands were immensely tied at the moment. He may have to call in a few favors and risk the united wrath of both Isshin and Masaki, but in the end it would all have been worth it, especially if it wound up saving Ichigo's life. But the question remained: who? Of course, Yoruichi came to mind; no one could whip a person into shape in record time better than her, but Ichigo was a . . . _special case_. No, he needed someone who could teach the boy by experience, and logically only one person came to mind, or rather one group of people, but he was with out a doubt the last person that any of them would want to see, that much was certain. With this quandary he would have to be sure to tread extremely lightly, the only thing these particular people hated more than shinigami was him, factor in that Urahara was himself a shinigami and you have you self one immensely hated person.

Well now that the matter of 'who' was solved he just had to work out the 'how'. From what he knew of they weren't exactly the easiest people in the world to locate, but he had to get into contact with them, preferably without actually having to meet with them personally for that could prove fatal. He also knew that they only invited the ones that they deemed worthy entry into their ranks, but that in it self presented another problem, what if they were _overly_ pleased with Ichigo and decided they wanted to keep him? That would create nothing but trouble for Kisuke If that did happen either he would have to tell Isshin and that would most definitely end painfully for him or he would have to go and take Ichigo from them, and that would end equally painful. With a sigh Urahara pushed those thoughts aside, he had more important things to worry about then his own well being. How, focus on the 'how'. If they only invited that meant that they were obviously out there somewhere watching for potential candidates, and Urahara could use that to his advantage. They would, in all probability, want to gauge his rather unique _talents_ so he would have to be sure to incorporate that somehow.

He is definitely going to need to some how acquire a Gikongan, something that Urahara was in healthy supply of. But no that would be too convenient, Isshin would see straight through that. He sighed again, he honestly didn't see any other way, and that only meant inevitable injury to his person. Now that he thought about it, why was he so hell bent on seeing this through? From what he could tell there was no foreseeable reward awaiting him at the end of this ploy, so why was he so enamored with the prospect of writing this 'play'? Oh, that's right, it was the potential. A boy of nine years with potential enough to be quite possibly the most powerful shinigami in recorded history, and to Urahara Kisuke just having been apart of his rise was reward enough.

* * *

Breakfast was uncharacteristically quiet this morning, aside from the playful banter of his two little sisters, and Ichigo had found that to be close to impossible, for Isshin would usually be acting like the biggest idiot to ever grace God's green Earth. The tension was so thick it would have to be cut with a chainsaw, and the only thing Ichigo could think about was getting as far away from it as possible. He finished eating and quietly excused himself so he could prepare for school, and after he was all dressed and ready he left without saying a word. He walked at a slow pace, not wanting to arrive at school a second before he had to. As an after thought he diverted from his normal route, not wanting to run into Tatsuki like he usually did, he just really needed to be alone and work things out right now. He had a lot of things running through his mind at the moment, what was going on with him really? Was he turning into some type of superhero? Probably just wishful thinking, too many fan boyish fantasies of what ever manga he was currently fawning over.

For a long time Ichigo seemed to be totally lost in thought, so much so that he began to walk in the complete opposite direction of his school. His feet seemed to have a mind of its own, and by the time Ichigo knew what was happening he was already halfway across Karakura. He froze and anxiously looked around him; the site that greeted him was completely unfamiliar. Had he really been that oblivious to his surroundings? No, he was never that careless, but how? How could he have traveled this far this quickly without even realizing it? "**How many times do I have to say it? Don't look so surprised to see me, Ichigo."** That voice, it couldn't be. The old man, he had said that it couldn't come back didn't he? "**Did you honestly believe that because you got your powers back that I would just disappear?" **it didn't seem to be coming from his head as it usually did but instead from somewhere else, somewhere outside.

It appeared to be a trend of late, that thing would do something as trivial as make a sound and Ichigo would be completely immobilized by fear. This was getting out of hand, no, it was long since out of hand. This simply could not continue on like this, he was losing his mind. "**You still have five days Ichigo. Just because you got your powers back doesn't mean the deal is off, you still have to get stronger by that time or else, well you know . . ." **he finished his rant with a satanic cackle. His eyes followed it, the sound of its laughter. It was coming from right behind him if his ears were working accurately. He swallowed hard and gathered whatever courage that had not fled the second that thing decided to make its presence known. Painstakingly slow, he glanced over his shoulder, and there it was, staring mockingly at him. Ichigo spun around, wanting to keep the thing in his field of vision. He swiftly backpedaled, not bothering nor caring to look and see exactly where he was going. 'It' simply laughed harder as it pointed a little behind him. Sparing only a fleeting peek behind him, Ichigo's eyes widened and before he could correct his footing he ran out of ground. With a shout he tumbled head over heels over a guardrail and down a tremendously steep knoll.

It was impossible for him to stop, no matter how hard he tried or what he grabbed on to; the only thing he was doing was hurting himself further. He could still hear it though, that malicious chuckle. It was like glass cracking in his head. It was horrible, like a toxin, slowly poisoning any and everything within him. With a crash, the world around him stopped its erratic spinning. Pain, blinding pain shooting all over his body, that's all he could feel, it was all his mind could register. He tried to sit up; shifting his weight onto his elbows but the warm liquid that kept spilling into his eyes was making things more difficult than it had to be. With a groan he ran his shirt sleeve across his face and as soon as took it away he saw that it was completely red. He was starting to fill dizzy, light headed.

"**Having fun?" **its voice once again called from behind him. Ichigo was glad that he could hardly move because it gave him an excuse for not having to look at that thing, though he couldn't say that he didn't feel vulnerable. "**You're deplorable you now that? Really I'm getting tire of having to say that to you." **

"Then don't; just leave me alone . . ." Ichigo said boldly. He must have become delirious in his pain. Was it always this dark? No, his sight was failing him. He felt a tug on his arm and was brought roughly to his feet before he was thrown against a nearby tree. "**Just look at you, all torn up. You mean to tell me that the ground beat you up that badly? If that's the case, then just imagine what I can do to you . . ." **Ichigo could barely hear it; he was losing consciousness fast and his 'alter ego' wasn't all too pleased to see it. "**ARE YOU LISTENING?!" **it shouted as it dug its fist deep into Ichigo's gut. With a grunt Ichigo fell to the ground holding his midsection. "**Let's get you out of that shell, shall we?" **it said as its hand began to glow. Ichigo watched it as best he could through the haze that had suddenly fallen over him. White beads of light began to mass upon themselves, forming something that Ichigo could have sworn he saw somewhere before, but where? His mind refused to operate proficiently. It was obviously a mask of some kind, with red streaks under and above the left eye socket. Yes he knew that mask, _Rip it off_, he remembered that; from that night.

"**You like?" **Ichigo didn't reply he just stared blankly. "**HA! I thought so." **It said as it walked closer to him. Ichigo didn't have the strength to move away or at all for that matter, he could only watch in silent trepidation. It bent down so it was staring him in the eye. "**Just this once, never again." **It said as it placed the mask on his face. "**Don't ever ask me again, the only way I'll give it to you is if you earn it." **the strangest sensation fell over Ichigo, yet one not at all unfamiliar, like he was being torn in two. It wasn't entirely unpleasant either, in fact it was taking away the pain and that was a gesture welcomed above all others. His vision and hearing returned to him and the first thing that he saw was his unmoving, seemingly dead, body; but Ichigo wasn't all that worried to see it. His attire had once again shifted to the negative version of the thing standing before him. "What are you doing?" Ichigo asked the thing but it must've hadn't heard him or it just flat out ignored him. It just took the mask from Ichigo's physical body before crushing it with his hand. It stuffed its arms in the opposites sleeve and look around. "**You actually live in this garbage . . ." **

"I asked you a question, what are you doing here, how did you get out of my head?" the thing laughed again.

"**Careful, Ichigo, you're starting to sound mental. We wouldn't want that now would we?" **

"ANSWER THE **QUESTION**!" Ichigo shouted before he clamped a hand over his mouth. That voice . . . hadn't come from him just now, did it?

The thing grinned broadly. "**That's why I'm here. BECAUSE I CAN BE!! It's so easy with you!" **suddenly it disappeared and Ichigo instinctively tensed. His caution level had skyrocketed to maximum which to Ichigo was surprising. This was the second time he had left his guard down while in dangerously close proximity to this thing. A weight on his shoulder caught his attention and as soon as he looked to see what it was it was gone. Was he lighter than he was a little while ago? Yeah, it felt like it, like a few pounds were missing. He looked back in front of him and once again locked eyes with his alternate self, but this time he had that huge sword balanced on his shoulder. "**You won't mind right? It's not like you were using it anyway." **That could be a problem.

"G-Give that back. The old man said it was mine." Ichigo said halfhearted. The last thing he wanted was to give this thing a weapon; it was dangerous enough as is was.

"**The old man said so? What old man?" **

"You know who I mean."

"**Ha! You don't even know his name and you think that I should give it back? Not a chance!"** it shouted as it charged at Ichigo. Doing the only thing that made sense to him at the time, he ran as fast as his feet could carry. The thing's maniacal laughter rang out behind him; it got louder as it got closer. Ichigo's heart was pounding, but what had him worried was that it wasn't from fear but more so from excitement. He was moving faster than he ever thought possible for a human being, it was more like flying than actually running. He didn't want to get caught and that only made him go faster, but it seemed that no matter how fast he went the thing was only a step behind him. And there was something in the air that felt unsettling and all too familiar. Against his better judgment he stopped dead in his tracks, and not a moment to soon because no more than six or seven paces away a giant fist collided with the ground.

Ichigo's eyes trailed the arm until he saw the body. It was massive; the biggest, living thing, he had ever seen in real life. A foreign weight appeared in his hand and when he looked to see what it was his eyes widened somewhat. It was the sword that the thing had taken from him. He spun around but it was gone. He quickly spun back around to the much bigger thing in front of him.

"**HAVE FUN **_**KING!!"**_ And that's when he knew that he was screwed.

* * *

**Retribution © Tenma-Chakun  
Written and Created by Tenma-Chakun & Archimedes III  
Characters based on the characters from Bleach  
Excerpts from The Bleach Manga © Viz media  
Based on the Manga Bleach  
Bleach © Viz Media and Jump Comics**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Okay, this chapter was originally "Chapter Six" but due to the merging of chapters one and two, this is now the most recent chapter. Chapter six (which previously would have been chapter seven) is about half way written, but nowhere near finished. In all honesty, it seems like Tenma was just thinking of everything as she went on, and so for the next couple of days we are going to outline the next five or so chapters. Please be patient, this story is well on it's way to being continued. Also, as it turned out, several things that are crucial to this story's plot has turned out to be incorrect and contradicted by the actual canon. Now there are two things we can do at this point: we can completely revamp the entire story, which would naturally take us longer to finish, or we could just slap an "AU" sticker on this story and call it a day. I leave that to you guys. So with out further ado, we give you. . .**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

Masaki signed in exasperation as she stood in front of the kitchen sink, rubbing a soapy sponge over a dirty plate. This awkward tension that seemed to form whenever she and her son were in the same room was driving her crazy! In her mind she knew that inside he was no different, that he was still Ichigo, _her Ichigo. _But the very thought of the hollow attack last week or the outburst of that _thing_ just yesterday made her doubt. . .she wasn't sure exactly, but she just felt uneasy. It almost made her cry the longer she thought on it. How could she be afraid of her own son? Her own flesh and blood. Her little Ichigo! _'I'm a terrible person aren't I?' _She thought to herself.

She began to run water over the plate to wash off the suds before placing it on the drying rack. She picked up another dish, to wash, but immediately set it back down, as she broke out into tears. It wasn't that she didn't love him, God how she loved him, but he was one of _them_ now wasn't he? Despite all of the things that that man, Urahara, and her husband explained to her, she still found it all but impossible to believe. She had put up an understanding facade, like she had completely wrapped her head around the situation, but really she didn't get it at all! It was like she was in an all new world, not her own, not her comfy world where there were no hollows, no shinigami. . .no _out-of-the-ordinary. _She found herself missing that ignorance. Wishing she could take back that night; make it so it never happened. She closed her eyes tightly and clasped her hands together as she pressed them to her forehead. Praying to what ever God would listen, she pleaded for them to take it all back. To let her be free of this entire nightmare.

She of course knew it was futile, but still she persisted. Though she had to admit she felt strange, cold, and for a second she couldn't breathe. Panic set in and she snapped her eyes open. What was _that_? She asked herself silently. She began to run water over the plate to wash off the suds before placing it on the drying rack. ". . ." Suddenly her eyes widened. Did she soap up another plate? No, the plate she had picked up second was still in the sink and there was only one in the drying rack. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly. Had she washed it again without even realizing? That couldn't be it. She stood there puzzling over it for a moment before the voice of Isshin tore her from her thoughts. "Masaki-chan! Where is-"

"The middle draw in the hall." She said as she slowly turned around. Her brow furrowed even deeper. Her husband was indeed a forgetful person, but he was _sporadic,_ never, at least not usually, losing the same thing multiple times. So there was no possible way that she could have guessed what it was he was looking for, right? Isshin had went to said drawer in the hallway, and retrieved the item in question. "Thanks hun." he called back before stepping into the kitchen. "Oh! Hey, have you seen-"

Masaki immediately cut him off. "Your keys are in your back pocket, no you don't have any appointments, your stethoscope is around your neck, Yuzu isn't allergic to strawberries, Karin does have soccer practice and no it's not going to rain today." Isshin stared at her with his mouth slightly ajar.

"Well, how about the winning lotto numbers while your at it?" He said with a slight chuckle. He watched Masaki's face distort in confusion before she spoke. "04, 12, 15, 28, 56." She said it so low he almost didn't hear it. Now it was Isshin that wore a clueless face. "Masaki," He said slowly "Are you okay?"

She was taking in quick shallow breaths now, the feeling of panic rising in her once again. "I. . ." She swallowed trying to calm her heart which was beating a mile a minute. "I. . .I don't. . .Isshin!" She said as her world became dim. The last thing she heard was her husband call out her name before it all went black.

* * *

Isshin had been trying his best to keep everything as close to normal, where it concerned him and his wife, as possible. For her sake he continued to be the laid back, carefree, somewhat idiotic man he had always projected himself to be. He knew that the situation was putting undue stress on his wife, and this was the absolute least he could do. So as he came out of his office and called to his wife, in search for his ever elusive appointment book, he didn't find it particularly odd that she answered him before he could even finish his question. Not really anyway. Moving to the indicated drawer in the hall and checking the middle draw as specified, he pulled out the small yellow folder and proceeded back to his office before realizing that he also had misplaced his keys somehow, and he couldn't quite remember whether or not he had a conference meetings, and the last thing he wanted was to have to go on a mad search at the last minute.

However, much like the first time she cut him off before he could even finish his inquiry. She started to rapidly list off various things, all of which he suddenly realized, he did indeed forget. It was almost like she had read his mind. He raised an eyebrow as he let his mouth fall open slightly. _'Wow,' _Isshin thought to himself. _'She's good.' _With a chuckle he asked "Well, how about the winning lotto numbers while your at it?" He watched in silence as her face wrinkled in confusion before she spoke. "04, 12, 15, 28, 56." He was sure that he didn't know what the hell the winning numbers were, so he was fairly certain that she was not reading his mind. But the oddity of the whole affair was something to wonder about.

He watched her begin to take in small breaths rapidly as her eyes glazed over, out of focus. "I. . ." She was hyperventilating "I. . .I don't. . .Isshin!" she shouted as she passed out. He ran over to her and caught her before she could fall to the floor. "Masaki? Masaki?!" He shook her slightly. Slowly her breathing evened out but she didn't stir. Picking her up bridal style, he carried her to one of the patient beds. He opened the window slightly to allow a slight breeze to enter. Taking a step back he looked down at her with his eyebrows furrowed deeply. Just what exactly was going on? His first thought was to contact Urahara, perhaps he would have a better understanding of what was going on, because he was fresh out of ideas. After brief deliberation he went to the phone, and punched in a few digits.

* * *

Ichigo's eyes trailed the arm until he saw the body. It was massive; the biggest, living thing, he had ever seen in real life. It's was almost like a cross between a Woolly Mammoth and a Gorilla. A foreign weight appeared in his hand and when he looked to see what it was his eyes widened somewhat. It was the sword that the thing had taken from him. He spun around but it was gone. He quickly spun around back to the much bigger thing in front of him.

"**HAVE FUN **_**KING!!"**_ And that's when he knew that he was screwed. Without thinking he clumsily brought the sword up in front of him in a sloppy defense. He blindly backpedaled until he couldn't any more, his back against a tree. He watched in stunned fear as it brought it's overly large fist up for a second attack. Ichigo willed his legs to move, but they refused to listen to him, preferring to shake in fear than flee. The thing that he knew to be a hollow, roared as it lunged forward. Ichigo closed his eyes and tried his best to brace for the attack. He felt his body explode in pain as the fist drove into him knocking him clean through the tree he was propped against. He couldn't summon the strength to cry out in pain, so he instead just panted heavily as his head became light. He watched, for the second time that day, as blood spilled freely from open wounds.

He slowly made his way back to his feet, fighting against the earth that seemed to shake violently beneath him, daring him to fall. No matter how he looked at it, this wasn't a battle he could win, but his legs still refused to listen to reason. No matter how strongly he tried to convince himself to move, all he could do was stare in unbelievable fear.

_'What are you afraid of?' _He heard the voice of the old man. _'There is no reason to fall victim to fear.' _As he said this Ichigo felt something grow inside of him, what that 'something' was, he wasn't quite sure. _'You are one, your enemy is one. There is nothing to be afraid of.' _Ichigo felt his breathing steady as his wounds stopped bleeding.

". . .power. . ." The word slipped out of Ichigo's mouth. That was the sensation that he was feeling. That incredible feeling that swelled up inside of him; this feeling that threated to explode. . .and so he let it. The explosion of reiatsu caused hurricane type winds that uprooted trees. It shone so bright, the sun seemed to fade to nothing in comparison. _'Don't forget, Ichigo, as long as I am with you, you will never have to be afraid!' _Ichigo felt a hand fall on his shoulder. He glanced back to see the old man there behind him. _'Take my strength as your own, raise this blade and strike down your foe!' _Ichigo nodded firmly.

"Yeah." He turned back to the hollow that seemed. . .surprised by Ichigo's newly established power. With both hands, Ichigo rose his zanpakutou above his head as his eyes took on an eerie blue glow. As if sensing it's inevitable downfall, the hollow roared as it rushed as quickly as it could to stop Ichigo from doing what ever it was that he was planning on doing. But it was already too late, with a shout Ichigo brought down the blade and in a blue crescent shaped exposition that reached as far as the eye could see and beyond there was nothing left but charred earth.

Ichigo was left looking wide eyed at what he had done. He was capable of such devastating power? This. . .this was his doing? In a rush his wounds began to bleed and his breathing became labored once again. The world around him had gotten dark and he was having trouble staying on his feet. He felt like someone had been spinning him around in a room completely devoid of light. Exhaustion finally reaching it's max, Ichigo collapsed onto the cold ground until everything faded to nothing.

* * *

Hanging up the phone, Urahara tapped his chin in thought. From what Isshin had just explained the situation with Masaki was more or less chalked up to stress. All she needed was rest. But he had to admit, her preemptive behavior that he had annotated was quite bizarre. Even Urahara had difficulty understanding this one. But of course he naturally assumed it had something to do with the young Kurosaki Ichigo, and the way he haphazardly oozed reiatsu everywhere. She more than likely absorbed quite a bit, and was now experiencing side effects. He didn't actually tell Isshin any of this, but he would have to eventually. However, it would prove too inconvenient for the moment. But on the plus side, if Isshin himself absorbed enough of his son's reiatsu, or rather, if Isshin's Gigai absorbed enough of his son's reiatsu then it would undoubtedly weaken the seal placed upon him. That would be interesting.

"My, my. I might as well look in to it further." He said with a sigh as he rose to his feet from his small table in his sitting area. He stretched his arms above his head and yawned loudly. Out of habit he took his fan from his inner sleeve pocket and waved it in front of his face before picking up his cane and tapping it against his shoulder. "Tessai! Oh, Tessai!" He sang the name in his usual jovial manner. Almost instantly the overly large store assistant came out of the stock room.

"Yes, Owner!" He said as he bowed deeply.

Urahara waved his hand at him as he spoke. "I'm going to the Kurosaki Residence for a quick visit, please look after things while I'm gone, hm?"

Tessai's answer was instantaneous. "Of course Owner!" He all but shouted as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, which it probably was, seeing how he _was _the store assistant manager after all. He opened his mouth as if to say something else, but was immediately cut off by an enormous spiritual pressure pushing down on him. Urahara's eyes widened substantially as he looked in the general direction of the incoming reiatsu. There was no mistaking who it belonged to. "Kurosaki?" Urahara whispered to himself. This was a problem. There would be no way that this could go unnoticed by the Soul Society, and they would undoubtedly send someone to investigate the matter, an event he had long since foresaw, but not anticipated, at least not yet. This would definitely set his plans back some.

With out speaking Urahara quickly left through the front entrance of his shop. No longer in any specific mood to banter any longer with Tessai. The only thing he could think at the moment was _'Damage Control' _He had to try and salvage the situation as best he could. He would deal with Isshin and his wife later. His plans for Ichigo were top priority, in his eyes anyway. There would no doubt be a search party arriving in a few minutes, if not seconds. No, he had absolutely no time to waste. Utilizing Shunpo he made his way to the general direction of where he had last felt that terrible force.

* * *

With a groan Masaki sat up. She covered her eyes with her hand to shield it from the incoming light that spilled in threw the open window. What happened? She vaguely remembered the events that had just transpired. Her head throbbed in dull pain as she thought more on it. How? That was all she could think of at the moment. How did she do those things? It was like she had knew exactly what was going to happen before her husband did. Everything just felt like deja-vu. Like she had just experienced everything a million time, until she had knew it by heart. What. . .what was happening to her?

With a sigh she pushed herself off of the bed and walked out of the room. She walked by the kitchen and noted, with a little relief, that Isshin had tidied it up in her stead. Where was Isshin anyway? She had just found a million additional questions she wanted to ask. The house was quite and it took her a moment to realize that she was indeed, home alone. Her headache hadn't really ebbed completely but she was sure that the worst was behind her. Her eyes was no longer sensitive to the bright mid morning light and she was thankful for that, as she moved to open up a few curtains in the TV area before taking a seat the couch.

She put her head in between her hands and placed her elbows on her knees in a very un-ladylike fashion before she let out a ragged breath. She was definitely growing tired of all of this. She wanted more that anything to return to her normal life, back when all she had was creeping suspicions about the existence of hollows and shinigami. She even wished she could take back her ill-favored curiosity in the matter. Even now, after falling deep into the rabbit hole with absolutely no possibility of returning, she found herself doubting that it was all real. It was just too crazy, too far fetched. From her point of view, or from any sane person's point of view for that matter, it all just seemed impossible.

She leaned her head back and stared at a particularly strange stain on the ceiling that she was sure had not been there yesterday. She tried to focus her mind, to clear all thought of shinigami, of hollow. . .even of her son for the moment. Right now, she just wanted to be alone, she didn't want to be bothered with the unrealistic and supernatural. Not right now, not when she was more frightened and confused than ever. No, instead, she stared nonchalantly at the stain on her living room ceiling, not moving to clean it up, not caring if it stayed there for all eternity. She just stared. This. . .this was her moment. . .her few rare moments to just be normal, to just be human.

But even that was brutally shattered as she was washed with sudden feeling of dread. She couldn't quite explain it. It felt like she was being strangled, no not really strangled, more like smothered by an unseen force that seemed dangerously familiar. She had felt it twice before, most recently being yesterday, in her son's bedroom. She swallowed hard and wondered what she was going to do. What could she do? So was pretty much useless anyway, right? A lowly human, who couldn't even comprehend the full weight of the entire situation around, even though it had been explained using small enough words to satisfy a small child.

Masaki Kurosaki felt strangely disappointed in herself. Had she given up? Was she throwing in the towel? Her brows furrowed deeply. _'No!' _She thought angrily at herself. _'No, I'm not just going to standby and watch! This is my family! My Ichigo! I'll be damned if I'll let anything happen to him, to any of them, not while I'm still around!' _She pushed herself off of the couch and strode purposefully to the front door, grabbing a sweater from the coat rack and throwing it over her shoulder she walked out of the door, and to the only place she knew the answers she was looking for could be found. "I think 'Urahara's Shoten' was this way. . ."

* * *

It wasn't routine, they had only really been doing it out of habit by now, but still she waited for him. Tatsuki glanced down at the watch she had strapped around her wrist. At this rate she was going to be late. They would be lucky if they made it in time to just barely catch the late bell. _'Stupid Ichigo,' _she thought to herself _'I guess that beating I gave him yesterday didn't settle into his head. This is the last time he's gonna ditch me. . .' _She was just about to turn around and walk on her own when she just made out a tuft of bright orange. Searching in the direction she thought she saw it, she just made out the form of Ichigo rounding a corner, oddly enough he was heading in the exact opposite direction of their school.

She didn't want to be late but her curiosity peeked. What was he up to? She let a small sigh escape her as she followed him, jogging slightly to catch up. She shouted his name but he didn't respond. He was moving fast, ridiculously fast, yet it seemed as if he was only walking at a leisure pace. As he rounded another corner she pumped her muscles until she was out right sprinting at full speed. Something was throwing her off about this whole situation. In fact she had noticed that for the past week or so, Ichigo had been acting extremely out of character. Almost like he was a completely different person.

As soon as she turned the corner she spotted Ichigo. She opened her mouth to call out to him again but stopped as she got a clear look at his face. He looked terrified, but she couldn't see what it was that made him that way. He stared pointedly at his own reflection in one of the shop windows as he quickly backed away. "Ichigo, watch-" she shouted as she sprinted towards him, but before she could even finish her sentence she watched in horror as Ichigo fell over the guardrail down to the wooded area below. She looked over the rail, it was at least a twenty foot fall, easy. She could just barely make out his crumpled form below. . .his non-moving crumpled form.

She felt her heart pound against her chest as she quickly looked for a way to get down to him. She spotted a tall tree that overlooked the spot she was standing with a large branch protruding just close enough for her to reach. Although Tatsuki was a girl, she was absolutely not what most people would depict as a girly-girl. So she had no trouble making it onto the branch and climbing down the tree with surprising haste and competence. As soon as she made it to the bottom she rushed to his side. Crouching down she moved to try and shake him but stopped shortly when she noticed his torn and battered body.

She let her mouth hang open as she felt tears well up in her eyes. She felt oddly guilty suddenly, as she clenched her eyes shut tightly and let her head drop. She immediately rose and made to call out to someone, anyone to help her. But before she could even utter a single word she heard a loud cracking sound. She turned to the direction of the noise and stood wide eyed as a second Ichigo came flying in between trees crashing through some of them, breaking them in half as he did. He skidded to a halt about six or seven feet away from where she and the seemingly dead Ichigo were.

She watched him as he slowly made his way to his feet, stumbling slightly but not falling back over. His second body was almost as torn and battered as the body that lie at her feet. But there was something about this. . .this other Ichigo. In an instant his wounds stopped bleeding and his breathing evened out. ". . .power. . ." she just barely heard him utter the word as he closed his eyes. And thats when she noticed it. The monster that she assumed had tossed Ichigo through all those trees in the first place. It was. . .huge. Her eyes widened and she began to blindly backpedal much as she had just witnessed Ichigo do no more then five minutes ago. She stumbled over an overgrown tree root, landing on her rear. She remained there unable to muster the necessary courage to move or even think coherent thoughts.

"Yeah." She heard him say louder, more confidently this time as a bright shockwave exploded from the boy. Instinctively, Tatsuki brought her arms up in front her to shield her eyes from the violent light. The force from the explosion had knocked Ichigo's downed body into her and was blowing them both back with massive vigor. She watched as trees, miraculously, blew past them. She tried her best to look up, to see what exactly was going on, crushing her fear as much as she could. The monster had charged Ichigo but before it even moved two paces Ichigo heaved a giant sword over his head and brought it down, inciting another explosion, this time focused in a singular direction. The monster vanished in the boomerang shaped light that engulfed almost the entire area. There was a loud roar as the light faded but there was nothing left behind.

As the second Ichigo fell to the ground she heard a voice call from behind her. "My, my. Kurosaki-san sure knows how to make a mess of things." She turned her head slowly and saw a man dressed in what looked oddly like green pajamas under a black long coat and a green and white stripped hat. He moved over to where Tatsuki was practically buried under Ichigo's body and a few layers of dirt and debris. "I'll just take that." He said as he grabbed Ichigo's body and placed him down on the ground. He placed his hand over his chest and it began to glow brightly. Tatsuki shut her eyes against the sudden flash of light but when she opened them again she could plainly see that all of Ichigo's wounds were completely healed, the only evidence that they were ever there in the first place was the bloody tears all over his clothes.

"Wh-what-" Tatsuki began before he cut her off.

"It's quite a long story, Arisawa-san, and I don't have much time to explain everything to you. I happened to have left my memory modifier at home so you'll just have to bare with me." He said as he brought Ichigo's body over to his shinigami body. Repeating the same method he had just done to Ichigo's physical body all of his wounds healed in an instant. Tatsuki was left staring wide eyed and slack jawed as she watched him. . .combine was the only word she could think of, both of the two Ichigos be fore scoping him up and begin to walk away. "Well, aren't you coming Arisawa-san?" He said without looking back.

Hesitating somewhat, Tatsuki didn't know whether or not she could trust the man, but what she knew for sure was that if there was another one of those. . .monster things around she didn't want to stick around to find out. Quickly rising to her feet she fell in step with the man and let him lead her to, what she sincerely hoped was, safety.

* * *

The blonde haired man had watched the entire scene from his position in a tree a short distance away. A wide grin cracked his features as he watched the Shinigami carry him away. "And everyone thought this town had no potential. . ." He glanced upward towards the sky and stayed there for a moment, voicing his thoughts. "Looks like our happy little family is about to get a new addition." he chuckled to himself before he shunpoed away.

* * *

**Retribution © Tenma-Chakun  
Written and Created by Tenma-Chakun & Archimedes III  
Characters based on the characters from Bleach  
Excerpts from The Bleach Manga © Viz media  
Based on the Manga Bleach  
Bleach © Viz Media and Jump Comics**

_He wasn't entirely sure of the situation. All he knew was that there was some kind of massive influx of reiatsu recently from an unknown source. But the most recent was far greater than the previous reports. It was significantly larger and neatly contained although still rather chaotic. And so after brief consideration a small search team was sent to the living world, courtesy of the special operations force, to investigate the matter. Quickening his pace, he moved to reach Genryusai-SouTaicho's office in time for the emergency meeting that was now being held. He entered as soon as he reached the door._

_"Sorry I'm late." Aizen said with a slight smile._


End file.
